IS recruiters still targeting Aussie youth

Islamic State recruiters are still trying to drag young Australians into the Middle Eastern conflict, the Victoria Police chief commissioner says.

"We're still seeing lots of stuff on the social media which is extremely worrying and obviously there's attempts to get young people to go over to the Middle East and fight," Chief commissioner Ken Lay told Fairfax radio.

"It's still going on, we're still watching it very closely, and we're working with other police jurisdictions and other agencies to try and prevent that happening."

The Australian newspaper reported nearly one in four Australian jihadis fighting in Syria and Iraq have been killed.

The total number of Australians killed in Syria and Iraq has reportedly reached about 20, from an estimated 90 who are still in the conflict zone.

Mr Lay said the figures underlined the risk young Australians faced if they travelled to the battleground.

"You'd hope that mainly young men who are considering this understand that they're very likely to get killed if they do go over and fight," he said.